New president of UW Regents from La Crosse

LA CROSSE, Wis. -- The new University Of Wisconsin System Regents President is from La Crosse.

Brent Smith was elected late Friday afternoon to serve the next year in charge of the 18 member board. He will oversee the board as they set tuition and other policies for 180,000 attending UW schools.

One of the biggest challenges Smith faces is doing more with less. For the past five years, tuition has risen by the maximum 5.5%.

Smith says he hopes it doesn't become the standard. "The increases we've seen compared to other places in the country are not that bad, in fact we're lower than many other places, but 5.5 isn't something we should be proud of, or something we walk around and say "gee isn't that great," we ought to strive for it and I think we'll get there that any tuition increase, if any, is a lot lower than 5.5," said Smith.

Smith has been on the board since 2004 and served as vice president last year.

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